‘Rambo V’ Trailer Released

The new trailer for Rambo: Last Blood — better known as Rambo V — was released Wednesday morning, giving fans a glimpse into what could possibly be the final Rambo adventure.

In the trailer, an aging John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) gets ready for one last fight as he teams up with a reporter to save a group of kidnapped girls from a vicious drug cartel in Mexico. The general synopsis seems to fall in line more with Rambo: First Blood (gritty and dark) than with the over-the-top fourth installment, 2008’s Rambo, which was a gory, non-stop onslaught of hard-hitting violence.

When star Sylvester Stallone arrived at the International Cannes film festival for a special presentation and Q-and-A earlier this week, he showed the first footage from the fifth Rambo installment in the popular franchise, along with a 4K restoration of the 1982 classic First Blood.

The trailer screened for the first time as part of a celebration of Stallone’s work and contribution to cinema. He’s been promoting the film heavily on social media since filming began, and has also shared a decent amount of behind-the-scenes footage that shows Rambo living on a ranch and working as a cowboy before he gets into a personal war with the Mexican cartel.

In an interview with Deadline, Stallone opened up about the upcoming film and what makes it different from all the other ones. “In every film, Rambo never goes home, he goes out the to the jungle or Afghanistan. In the new one, he does come home, but, in a way, he never arrives. He’s there, but he’s not. That’s what the whole story is built around. As soon as he walks outside his door, he has no more control. The world controls you,” Stallone said.

Directed by Adrian Grunberg, Matthew Cirulnik and Sylvester Stallone wrote Rambo: Last Blood, which has been long in the works; Stallone originally wanted to get to work on the sequel story after releasing Rambo in 2008.

The plot line has changed a few times over the past few years, at one point having Rambo fight a genetically altered creature in the woods. It actually came to halt when it was announced that a TV show was in the works. The TV series was set to focus on Rambo’s son, with Stallone making only occasional appearances. But then it changed totally, with Stallone no longer involved at all. Ultimately, the TV project stalled out and disappeared, making way for Rambo: Last Blood.

It’s believed that Last Blood will be the Rambo franchise’s swan song, although only time will tell if that holds true. After all, Stallone hinted last year that he was officially retiring his Rocky character, but now has another idea for another Rocky sequel that would see Balboa taking an undocumented immigrant on as a trainer, who gets deported.

Rambo V: Last Blood will be released on Sept. 20.

Photo credit: Lionsgate Movies